Serverless team retreats are an opportunity for us to bring everybody together in person to work through some of our most pressing issues every six months. We strive to use this time together to cultivate trust and empathy between team members and constantly improve our ability to work together to achieve great things.
Every team retreat has a unique goal and theme established in the months leading up to the retreat. Past goals have focused on team alignment and product process as well as improving team cohesion. These goals are sent out in the retreat agenda in the month leading up to the retreat.
The team agenda is sent out a month before the retreat for team members to review and make changes. Please feel free to make requests for sessions you believe are missing or make suggestions on the best way to achieve results from each session. In the past we've gotten great feedback regarding the need for an objective facilitator or the desire for a group cooking class.
Retreats are a time for team members to unplug from the day-to-day grind and focus their attention on solving some of our most pressing problems while spending lots of quality time together having fun. With this in mind we try to find locations that are interesting, private, and secluded so that we're not distracted or imposed upon by outside groups. Past locations included a beautiful mountain house in Austria, a retreat center/ working farm in Ukiah, California, and a remote villa outside of Marrakech, Morocco.
We aim to give our team members the most comfortable accomodations as possible. We will always provide team members with their own bed, but as our team grows we will need to share rooms at some of these amazing locations. If you need special accommodations please reach out to Casey well before the retreat so that she may plan accordingly.
All meals and snacks are provided for team members during the retreat. In the past we've hired private chefs to keep us healthy and fed with delicious food. If you have any food allergies or dietary restrictions please reach out to Casey ahead of the retreat (or include them in the pre-retreat survey).
Casey will send out a pre-retreat survey a couple weeks before the retreat and a post retreat survey the week after the retreat. Your candid feedback is appreciated to help us constantly improve our retreats for maximum results.
Expensible items when traveling for a team retreat:
- Airfare - we're a startup so everybody travels economy including Austen
- Hotel rooms, if required, for the day before and the day after a retreat. If you need to stay at the retreat location longer than an extra travel day on either end, please reach out to Casey for prior approval.
- Food on travel days. We'll reimburse up to $15 for breakfast or lunch and up to $20 for dinner.
- Travel to and from the airport.
- As always, you are expected to spend company as if it were your own.
- Bring a carry-on - at least one team member at every retreat has had their luggage lost while traveling. Delays and missed connections are unavoidable, the best way to make sure that your bag makes it with you is to bring it in the cabin. If you need to check a bag make sure to include a couple changes of clothes, a toothbrush, and necessary medication in your carry-on. You'll be really happy you have at least 2 changes of underwear while you wait for the airline to track down your bag.
- Make sure travel docs are current - double check that your passport has at least six months left before it expires and that you have enough pages for any necessary visas. One team member was three days late to the first retreat in Austria because he didn't realize his passport was expired until he was on his way to the airport!
- Bring an outlet adapter - Casey usually brings one or two for common spaces, but if you don't want to have to fight over them then it's best to bring your own that you can keep in you room.
4 months out
- Determine dates and location of retreat
- Book caterer/ private chef
- Research team activities
- Start working on any necessary visas for team members
3 months out
- Order team gifts
- Start booking travel for team members
- Book any necessary ground transportation ie rental cars or vans
- Book facilitator (if using one)
- Book any guest speakers or workshop leaders
2 months out
- Determine retreat goals and themes
- Book team outings
- Draft retreat agenda
1 month out
- Finalize sleeping arrangements
- Finalize menu with caterer
- Send draft agenda to team for feedback
- Send pre-retreat survey
- Confirm projector, projector screen, and whiteboards/ markers at venue
- Order sticky notes, pens, paper, etc.
- Rent any necessary musical instruments
2 weeks out
- Send finalized itinerary & agenda to team with clear instructions on how to prepare for sessions
- Create gameplan for grocery shopping (if necessary)
1 week out
- Order beer, wine, and gin for Rupak ;-)
- Put together welcome kits (include retreat gift, agenda, pens, and paper)
- Confirm itinerary with each
Week of
Follow the agenda and enjoy the ride
Week after
- Team members load photos to shared Google Drive folder
- Send out post retreat survey
2 weeks after
- Review survey feedback and share with team
- Start planning the next one!